


Code: Future Fish

by Hinalilly



Category: Free!
Genre: Fluff and Humor, M/M, Trolling and embarrassing Rin is why I was placed upon this Earth, chef!haru, cop!Rin, yes he's actually a cop in this one
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-09
Updated: 2015-04-11
Packaged: 2018-02-08 02:17:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 20,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1923018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hinalilly/pseuds/Hinalilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Rin finds himself getting called to repeatedly arrest this one guy who seems to strip at the mere sound of the word ‘water,’ he wonders why he doesn’t find it as bothersome as he should.</p>
<p>But when a guy is as attractive as this particular one, he really doesn’t have to wonder for long.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I really shouldn't be starting a new project right now BUT THIS AU JUST CAME AND PUNCHED ME IN THE FACE. I had to give it the attention it deserves. All the blame for this goes to the Rinharu chat; hope you guys like it!
> 
> This was _supposed_ to be a short, sweet, oneshot drabble, but I kept getting ideas, so I decided to break it into chapters! Definitely 2, probably even 3 (depending on how much I end up writing). Rating might go up if I'm feeling it. *fingers crossed*
> 
> **Disclaimer:** The Author feels no regret whatsoever about her portrayal of one Yamazaki Sousuke.

 

 

The first time it happens, Rin assumes the guy is wasted all the way down to his bones. It’s the only reason why a sane human being would be trespassing into a middle school outdoor swimming pool, in the middle of _winter_ , in the middle of the _night_ , with no protection against the weather but a pair of tight competition jammers. True, said person is swimming constantly from one end of the pool to the other, completely unaware (or completely ignoring) Rin’s presence in the premises, and doesn’t seem to be registering the cold at all in the midst of the intense exercise. But Rin knows better, he’s seen what drunk people are capable of, so he just sighs and looks around for a net that will hopefully aid him in shoving the guy out of the water. It takes a few tries, a bit of poking, and a lot of patience (that Rin really can’t spare, not at this late hour), but in the end he gets the guy to pay attention to him, his head half submerged in the water still, and his (deep deep very very _blue_ ) eyes fixed on him. Rin clears his throat a few more times than necessary, and then tilts his head, making doubly sure not to forget his trademark scowl. (It’s not his fault if he does. This guy’s stare is a little uncomfortable, a little weird, and kinda— _really_ hot.)

“Oi,” he calls out, tapping the guy’s shoulder with the net again for good measure. “What do you think you’re doing?” Rin gives him a chance to answer. He doesn’t. With a click of his tongue, Rin pokes him again. “You’re trespassing. Get out.”

“No,” the guy finally says, and his brow creases into a frown.

“Yes,” Rin barks, trying not to let the lateness get to him. Drunk people can be terribly stubborn if not handled correctly, and Rin really, _really_ wants to avoid getting wet, if possible. “You can’t be in there. You’ll have to come with me.”

“No,” the guy repeats, and Rin finds himself wondering if he can manage to catch him in the water, or if he’s going to have to wait until he tires himself out. Neither looks very likely. “The pool and I are talking.”

Rin stares.

“I’m going to have to arrest you,” he sighs, twirling the net in his hands for a moment, before setting the pole against the floor, and leaning against it. “So just come out nicely and I’ll let it slide, okay?”

“It’s serious,” the guy says, and then dives into the water again, swimming all the way to the other end of the pool. Meanwhile, Rin presses a palm against his forehead, and sighs. Obviously, something like this just _has_ to happen to _him_ , and on his partner’s day off, too.

He’s pretty certain he’s dealt with worse, but at the moment he can’t think of anything.

“Look, you can talk with the pool later,” he says, walking along the edge towards were the guy is now standing, and takes a seat on one of the starting blocks, facing him again. “It’s late, man. Don’t make me go down there.”

Instead of replying, the guy keeps staring at him, and then swims all the way to the other end of the pool.

Rin sighs. Again.

This can’t be happening.

“Okay, okay, _fine_ , I get it. It’s serious.” Rin waves his hand in the air dramatically, and can see from the corner of his eye that he still, miraculously, has the guy’s attention. He just needs to play his cards right. “Look, if you need to talk just _talk_. But do it quickly, okay? I don’t have all night.” _And I don’t want to have to drag you all the way back to the station all wet, in a wet uniform, in a wet car_ , he thinks to himself.

“Okay.”

The first time, Rin is actually surprised about how compliant the blue-eyed ~~hottie~~ _kid_ is for a drunk guy.

He’s even more surprised to find out that he’s not _completely_ wasted, after all.

 

Turns out the guy hadn’t really had that much to drink, after all. (He might have been sober, for all Rin knows, but… who does that sort of thing without alcohol in their system?) That seemed to explain the ease with which he had broken into the Iwatobi Middle School premises, and how he had avoided drowning in the freezing water, as well. Upon inspection, Rin finds there was no damage done to the property, and nothing had been stolen, either, so he decides it’s best to just jot down the guy’s personal information (Rin would not be accused of using his position as a police officer to get someone’s phone number and address) and give him a ride home.

The guy, now officially Nanase Haruka, male, 24 years of age, born June 30th (just a few months older than Rin), zodiac sign Cancer, sous-chef at a pretty respectable (or so he says) restaurant, hobbies are swimming and drawing, but most importantly, single—

**_single_ **

(Rin would not be accused of using his position as a police officer to get someone’s relationship information, he _wouldn’t he wouldn’t **he wouldn’t**_ )

—is now sitting in the passenger seat of Rin’s patrol car, dressed messily, still wet, and shivering quite violently.

Rin has to force himself to keep his eyes on the road, instead of watching how Nanase’s wet shirt is clinging to his very enticing, very lean muscles, but Rin is only human, and there’s nothing much to do while stuck at a red light, anyway.

At least he makes a point of _not_ memorizing the way to his house.

Then again, those are a lot of stairs, and while Nanase insists he’s fine, Rin doesn’t like the prospect of having to drive a drenched and nearly freezing guy all the way to the nearest hospital. It’s his duty to protect and serve, after all, so he makes sure Nanase makes it all the way to his door and into his house safely, and then files the incident away in the back of his mind.

 

* * *

 

Rin never expects a second time. But it happens anyway.

This time, it’s in broad daylight, a late afternoon in the park a few days later. They’ve received a complaint about a guy sitting half-naked in the artificial lake, who is refusing to come out. Rin drives to the spot without much thought, mindlessly munching on a donut while Sousuke laughs about this awful new mackerel-topping pizza he’s tried on the other side of the town. Rin never expects it to be Nanase, but he’s still not really surprised when he spots his very round head and his very wet hair poking out of the water.

“… I got this,” he sighs, patting Sousuke in the shoulder, who just shrugs and sips his coffee placidly, leaning against the car.

This time, Nanase has the decency to notice him without Rin having to poke him first.

“Yo,” Rin calls out, squatting at the edge of the lake. “Did you get into a fight with the pool?” The question is out before he can register it, but thankfully his tone is surprisingly monotone, and Rin somehow manages not to break into a grin while he speaks. Nanase just stares at him for a moment, and then goes back to looking at the water, bringing his knees a little closer to his chest.

“No,” he replies, but Rin notices the slight irritation in his expression.

“No? Then why are you cheating on it?” Now Rin is definitely grinning, elbow on one knee and face on his hand, and Nanase stares at him for the longest time.

“… We’re at an impasse,” he finally speaks, and Rin snorts, wondering how much he has had to drink this time.

A honk brings him back to Earth, and Rin turns to see Sousuke waving his now empty cup of coffee at him.

“Well, time’s up,” Rin says, standing up again, and leaning forward to grab Nanase by the arm (Rin swears he can hear his sister’s voice in the back of his mind, gushing about dreamy triceps or whatever), and pulling him out of the water. Nanase offers little resistance. “Grab your clothes. You _do_ know you can’t swim in here, right?”

“I wasn’t swimming,” Nanase mutters, face turned to the side, and Rin almost, _almost_ laughs.

Sousuke makes the car horn blare again, and Rin groans.

 

* * *

 

Rin would be a fool not to have expected a third time.

When they receive notice that someone is trying to bathe in the public fountain right outside the mall, Rin just chuckles and throws a few towels in the car.

One of the bad things about trying to swim in a fountain outside of a packed shopping mall is that it’s much, much more difficult to let it slide, ever more so when it’s a repeated offense (and while Sousuke enjoys humoring Rin every now and then, he won’t let him break the rules that easily). So the third time marks Nanase’s first official visit to the station, and Rin figures that, if he were a water cooler, he would be very, very uncomfortable at the moment.

But Nanase passes the Breathalyzer test with flying colors, leaving Rin both relieved and worried at the same time.

At least he doesn’t have a drinking problem.

The way in which he keeps staring at the water cooler like he wants to find a way to jump in it is a _little_ creepy, though.

 

* * *

 

The fourth time is a disaster. Nanase seems to have found his way into a musical water fountain this time, and unfortunately (un- _FUCKING-_ believably) neither the security guards at the venue nor the officers stationed nearby seem to have been able to pull him out of it yet. Rin groans during the entire drive towards the aforementioned location, because he should be completely put off by this guy’s weirdness already, and instead he finds himself thinking of the water rippling and falling down Nanase’s torso, drop by drop, his face shining with both the trick of the colored lights and that unique expression of wonder he always wears when he’s looking at the water. Beside him, Sousuke smiles.

“He’s got good eyes,” he says, and Rin wishes they weren’t best friends, because he suddenly wants to strangle Sousuke to death for being able to read his every thought so accurately.

 

The fourth time, Rin gets really, really wet (and not because of Nanase’s eyes).

Because the fourth time Nanase actually offers resistance.

It apparently seems like a good idea to him to stand in the middle of the display in nothing but his swimsuit (if Rin squints his eyes, he can almost swear it’s slightly different than the one Nanase was wearing before, but he wouldn’t bet on it), eyes closed in an expression of absolute rapture, as the water jets alternatively turn on and off around him. It’s a miracle he hasn’t gotten himself fried like a fish yet. The odd commotion seems to have gathered quite a crowd, so Rin takes care not to act too friendly with Nanase; the last thing he wants is for his authority to be questioned.

But Rin’s life is not easy, and this is exactly what Nanase manages to accomplish.

He calls out to Nanase three times before realizing that one, he is being completely ignored, and two, Nanase will not comply with his request to leave the fountain quietly this time.

He _will_ leave the fountain, though, or Rin will die trying.

 

Rin doesn’t remember being this red in a long, long time. And yet he can’t do anything but grit his teeth, click his tongue, and yell for Nanase to _stop moving this very instant_ as he chases him around the massive fountain. He can hear kids laughing, he can see people smiling and chuckling and cheering Nanase on, and Rin silently begs for Nanase to fail the Breathalyzer test this time, because the thought of him doing this to him _on purpose_ is just too much to bear.

When Rin finally manages to catch up to him, Nanase doesn’t say a word. He just stares at the water with a defeated, resigned, and utterly disappointed expression, as Rin drags him off towards the patrol car to the cheers and claps of their (much unwanted) audience.

Sousuke is grinning from ear to ear when he hands the towels over to him, and Rin deals him a swift kick to the shin.

 

* * *

 

The fifth time, the call is relayed directly to Rin. Sousuke explains that the order seems to have been given under the premise that Nanase isn’t particularly dangerous, and that “Matsuoka knows how to deal with this guy.” Rin tries to deny it, but when his partner agrees to both points without any fuss, he’s left with no choice but to accept it as fact.

Rin isn’t really surprised when they end up at the Iwatobi Middle School pool again. What _does_ surprise him is seeing Nanase almost completely integrated into the swim club’s practice, his body gliding between the different lanes with at least three kids in tow, all wide-eyed and amazed, praising him for his speed and begging him to teach them how to swim. When Rin approaches the teacher, he is greeted with a smile, and he has to wonder who the hell was it that called them over to fetch Nanase this time, because he’s clearly at home here and nobody seems to be disturbed by his presence. The rude little piece of— …sweet, hot _ass_ takes his time to stop by the showers before willingly heading over to where Rin and Sousuke are waiting for him, and he is waved farewell in nothing but smiles from the children and the faculty alike.

At least, this time, Nanase has the decency to use his own towel to dry himself off, and actually bothers to get dressed before following Rin back into the car. Which is good, because Rin just _stands_ there; he’s pretty certain his brain stopped working after that strange but endearing display of tooth-rotting cuteness.

The fifth time, Sousuke drives.

 

* * *

 

By the time the sixth call arrives, there’s already a few bingo sheets being passed around the station, the tiles filled with all the possible places in which Nanase might be found soaking in. There’s no actual prize involved, and yet everyone seems to be extremely caught up in it, much to Rin’s dismay. When Rin, bearing a tired scowl on his face, finally brings Nanase over to the station again, Nakagawa practically yells from his desk, his loud voice booming all over the building.

“Hey, Nanase!” He calls out with a smile, twirling a pen in his hands. The only hint that Nanase gives of having acknowledged him is a slight stare to the side. “Where did you strip today, huh?”

Nanase replies quietly, but boldly, and Rin can _swear_ that he’s not ashamed of his behavior in the slightest, “… restaurant.”

Nakagawa whines loudly, and from another corner of the station Kawamura pumps his fist into the air.

“Yes! Free pizza tonight!”

Rin sighs, and nudges Nanase to keep moving, before the poor water cooler can get any more uncomfortable under his intense stare than it already is.

 

* * *

 

Everyone at the station collectively decides upon the need of a special codename for the Nanase Haruka-related operations. Rin’s face contorts into a grimace, because he knows that no matter what he tries to do or say, the codename _will_ be utterly stupid and embarrassing, and he’s going to be stuck hearing it for life.

He really feels like killing something when Sousuke pats him on the shoulder, breaking him from the peaceful trance of watching a small bird peck the fallen crumbs of his donut, and utters into his ear, dead serious in tone and expression, “Rin. Code Future Fish. We have to go.”

If Nanase doesn’t get himself fried soon, then Rin will do it for him.

 

“Are you and the pool still at an impasse?” Rin asks, and Nanase shoots him a short-lived glare from the backseat of the car. They had no choice but to go through the theatrics of handcuffing him this time, only because he was attempting to get inside a large fish tank in the middle of a pet store (that stupid codename should not have been so goddamn _accurate_ ), and the gesture seemed to have pacified the owner enough to not file a complaint against him, as long as Nanase promised he wouldn’t do it again.

(Rin isn’t so sure.)

The handcuffs come off at the first red light, and Nanase is still glaring slightly at the back of the driver’s seat, rubbing his wrists in silence. Sousuke alternates between watching the rearview mirror and Rin’s profile, and upon finally catching his glance, Rin clicks his tongue in annoyance.

“Hey, I just want to know,” he whines angrily, but Sousuke just rolls his eyes. “It’s only fair; he’s been using us as his personal transportation for weeks!” Rin turns over his shoulder at the next red light to stare back at Nanase. “Do you _ever_ go to work?”

Nanase simply breaks eye contact, and for the rest of the ride and until he’s released again, he speaks the minimal amount required for all the paperwork to be filed. None of which is really necessary, as nobody really expects Nanase to actually end up in jail, and Rin could probably fill all the forms blindfolded by now if he had to.

 

“Dude, did you put something in his water?” Nakagawa is leaning over Rin’s desk as he files all the paperwork away, once Nanase is sent on his way home for the umpteenth time. “He looked pissed.”

“Rin offended him,” Sousuke offers, and Rin just stares at him incredulously, a breathy ‘HUH?’ cutting into his words, “but he’s too _dense_ to figure it out on his own.” He smacks Rin with a file over his head, grinning, and Rin scowls. Nakagawa sighs, shaking his head.

“Maaaaan, you suck.”

Is he seriously being reprimanded over lack of _tact_ with a guy who strips, _repeatedly_ , no less, in broad daylight?

Rin really needs some coffee.

 

* * *

 

When Nanase is spotted stripping upon the sight of sprinklers in a random backyard (it seems he’s fast enough this time to avoid being caught, as he’s already gone when they make it to the scene), it’s Sousuke’s turn to buy the pizza. He arrives at the station with a mackerel-and-pineapple topping abomination (much to the dismay of everyone else, who all refuse to eat), and Rin concludes that the entire world is now against him.

“What the hell, man,” he groans, and Sousuke just shrugs, taking a bite.

“The pineapple makes it work,” he says, and Rin just shakes his head, trying to ignore the wordless conversation that Sousuke’s trying to pull him into. Seriously, _fish_ , of all things?

He absolutely refuses to apologize to Nanase. Rin is positive he did nothing wrong.

“Your loss,” Sousuke says over bites of the meal he’s now eating all by himself. Rin doesn’t even have to ask; it makes no difference whether Sousuke actually _likes_ that absurd excuse for a pizza or not. Either way, he did it entirely on purpose. “The restaurant that makes these is really good. You should go there sometime.”

“Ugh,” Rin tries to ignore the strong smell of the freshly baked food, which makes his stomach churn with hunger, and buries his nose in his work instead. If he concentrates on how disgusting the taste must be, then he can avoid caving in. “Only if they serve meat.” He doesn’t have to add the ‘ _and kimchi’_ after that for Sousuke to know exactly what he means.

“They might,” Sousuke muses, taking another slice. Rin guesses it’s not his imagination when he hears gagging noises from Kawamura’s general direction. “The chef is pretty cool.”

Rin growls, and he knows (they _both_ know) that the talk of fish and chefs is completely unnecessary. Rin is definitely, _definitely_ , not going to apologize.

 

* * *

 

When Code Future Fish isn’t brought to his attention for a full week, Rin wonders if perhaps he should start considering the option that he might, actually, have offended Nanase for real. Of course, it’s not like Rin’s words would be enough to keep Nanase out of the water (they hadn’t before, and they shouldn’t have to now, either), so he tries to shoot the worries down each time they threaten to surface in his head. He still doesn’t feel like he should apologize (he’s not even sure _what_ he could’ve done wrong, at this point), but after not hearing anything about Nanase’s antics for so long, Rin starts to wonder if he should pay him a visit.

It’s not like Rin made a conscious effort to memorize his address. He’s just had to file those papers so. many. times.

He decides to label it as collateral damage.

He arrives at that conclusion after standing still at Nanase’s door for roughly twenty minutes.

It’s not like he’s been consciously trying to distract himself from ringing the doorbell. It’s not.

“Haru’s not at home,” a voice from behind him says, and Rin turns to find a large, kind-faced guy staring at him. The nickname is enough to let Rin know that this person must know Nanase quite well. “He should be at work now, if you need him.” He has a smile on his face, but Rin can easily pinpoint the slight concern behind it. Rin doesn’t blame him; it’s never nice to spot a police officer at an acquaintance’s door. “He’s not in trouble, is he? He can be a bit weird sometimes, but he means no harm.”

Rin lifts an eyebrow at the carefree way in which he speaks, and can’t help but wonder how much of a common occurrence Nanase’s stripping problem is. In any case, he can’t help but feel kinda sorry for this guy; he looks like he’s familiar with the pain, too. “Nah, it’s cool,” he says instead, giving a small bow with his head and starting to make his way back down the stone steps. “Just keep alcohol away from him for a while, okay?”

“Eh?” The guy looks genuinely confused, and Rin is, in turn, confused by that reaction, as well. “Haru doesn’t drink.”

Rin isn’t sure if he’s currently frowning, grinning, or maybe a little bit of both.

He _knew_ it.

That _jerk_.

 

* * *

 

It’s strangely ironic that, given the recently uncovered information, the eight time, Nanase is _actually_ drunk.

It’s not the least bit funny, though, because it’s late, it’s Rin’s first day off in weeks, and he’s just casually walking back home with a small bag of groceries, looking forward to the steak in his fridge, when the sight of Nanase fighting angrily with the fire hydrant makes his mood do cartwheels in his gut.

He _still_ doesn’t know if he’s going to apologize or not, but he’s certain he’s lost his appetite now.

“What the _hell_ are you doing,” he scowls, and Nanase simply groans in reply, still trying to open the goddamn thing with his bare hands. It’s good to know that he clearly has one too many glasses of alcohol in him (the slight redness on his face looks _extremely_ nice), because Rin is afraid that he would eventually succeed otherwise. “ _Please_ don’t tell me you’re trying to free the water or something.”

Nanase doesn’t even spare him a glance before groaning out a “no,” and Rin is honestly surprised.

“Huh? Seriously?” Tilting his head, Rin runs his fingers through his loose hair, and squats beside him. “Enlighten me, then.”

Nanase struggles against the fire hydrant in silence for a few more moments before replying.

“I have to strip. So I need water.”

Yeah, Rin is not surprised anymore.

“Uh, I’m pretty sure you don’t _have_ to do that,” he says, scratching his neck. “And you can’t just open that. You’ll get fined—”

“No,” Nanase cuts in, and his determination strikes Rin enough to effectively shut him up. “I won’t get arrested unless I strip.”

Rin blinks.

Nanase frowns a bit harder while he continues his attempts at prying the fire hydrant open. “There’s this cute officer who always shows up when I’m—”

Eh—

“—in the water so—”

wait—

“—if I can… open this thing—”

WHAT—

“Whoa, WHOA, NANASE, HOLD UP—” Rin grabs him by the wrist, and Nanase blinks, looking up at him at last, his eyes a bit clouded in his drunken haze. (Still gorgeous, though.) Time seems to stop, until Rin clears his throat upon reminding himself that he’s _still_ holding onto his wrist, and that he’s been staring at Nanase for _way_ too long already, “You can stop that now, okay? I—” He lets go of Nanase’s wrist like it burns, and he gestures a bit more wildly than usual. Nanase just eyes him from head to toe. “I suppose I _could_ arrest you if you like, but—”

“No.”

“Eh?”

“You’re not a cop.”

_Oh for_ —

“Am too!” Rin growls, waving the grocery bag in front of Nanase’s face. “It’s my day off, you jerk!”

Nanase just tilts his head, scrutinizing, but looks unconvinced.

With a sigh, Rin puts the bag on the floor for a moment, and then holds his hair up as if it were in a ponytail. “Better?”

When Nanase’s eyes narrow, but he still doesn’t show an evident hint of agreement, Rin simply grabs his bag, pulls Nanase up by the arm, and drags him along with a groan.

 

Sousuke looks more surprised by the fact that Nanase’s actually _dry_ this time than by seeing Rin at the station, and this late at night, no less. He does raise an eyebrow, though, when Rin asks him to lend him a spare uniform, just for a moment.

“I can’t let you use any of the holding cells, though,” is his reply, and half a second of realization later Rin turns so red his cheeks almost match his hair. It seems Nanase has failed to hear the comment, thankfully (he just looks concerned over the lack of the water cooler in its usual spot), so Rin rushes over to the changing room, kicking Sousuke when he passes him.

 

The blush hasn’t completely gone away when he’s done changing (the borrowed uniform is not a perfect fit, but it works), and Rin sighs, hoping that this will all end quickly, and that Nanase won’t remember any of it the next day. He is, however, quite angered upon returning to the entrance and finding that Nanase has, somehow, managed to get water on himself again.

“He asked for a glass of water,” Ueda (who has only recently gotten back from his vacation, and has sadly missed most of the code Future Fish incidents) interjects apologetically, “I thought he was thirsty.”

Just when Rin’s frustration is about to reach its peak, Nanase catches sight of him, and his eyes seem to sparkle, widening slightly.

Rin decides to drag him out quickly before he says something embarrassing again.

 

“If you’re in this solely for the uniform,” Rin manages to mutter, thoroughly embarrassed, while helping Nanase turn the lock to his front door, “I swear I’ll drown you myself.”

It’s an empty threat, because Nanase is leaning against him, an arm over his shoulder to keep himself upright, and the drowsiness in his face is so adorable that Rin finds out it actually _is_ possible to fumble with a key, sober and all.

Nanase’s house is a little dull to the eye, at first glance, but upon further inspection it’s cozy enough in its simplicity. Rin knows it’s late, that the steak in his fridge will have to wait for another night, and that he’s going to look like death the next morning, but helping Nanase sober up a little doesn’t seem like such a bad alternative to an otherwise very boring and lonely evening, when he thinks about it.

A large part of it might be due to how… informative Nanase has been in his current state.

Rin now knows that he looks good in a ponytail (but the loose hair isn’t that bad, either), that he is annoying, that his eyes are really really _red_ , that he is an awful driver, and that the water seems to like him (whatever _that_ is supposed to mean).

“So,” Rin smirks, trying to keep up the cool façade, but still struggling to keep his insides from melting, “you think I’m cute, huh.”

Nanase just looks up from his glass of water, does that uncomfortable stare of his for one long, embarrassing second, and then lowers his gaze again. Rin coughs a little.

“Y-You’re not half bad yourself, you know? Just _really_ weird,” he snorts, nervously.

Nanase looks up again.

“And—you don’t have to keep stripping around everywhere, okay? You could just, I don’t know…” Rin scratches his neck, blabbering while avoiding Nanase’s piercing gaze with a deep breath and blush-stained cheeks, “… stop by the station, or something? Unless you’re at work, then you can’t, obviously, but since you’re always out doing weird stuff, maybe you _do_ have enough free time so, yeah, you know, when I’m not out patrolling we could, I don’t know, hang out or just talk or I could g—”

“Okay.”

Nanase is staring at his water. Rin coughs again.

“Oh. Okay. …Yeah, okay. Cool.”

Not cool. Not cool _at all_ , Rin thinks to himself, putting his borrowed cap back on and fiddling with it solely to keep his face out of view. ‘ _You’re not half bad yourself?_ ’ And then call him _weird_ right after? What the hell _was_ that? Worst confession in the entire world, that’s what.

“Okay! So. You look good now—I mean, you always look good, but, uh… better! Better, as in, uh—” Rin wonders if he will ever make more of a fool out of himself than he is doing at the moment. This. Is. A. Complete. Disaster. “Y-Yeah, I should get going.” He clears his throat, straightening and standing up in a hurry, and pretty much stumbles to the front door. “Good night!”

He doesn’t even wait for a reply, and he runs, actually _runs_ , all the way back to his house, pumping all the embarrassment into his legs and yelling _stupid stupid stupid_ at himself in his head.

 

* * *

 

Rin really needs some coffee. Where ‘some’ means ‘at least five cups’. He couldn’t get a single wink of sleep the night before, just stared at his ceiling and kept repeating the million different ways in which he _could_ have confessed to Nanase, instead of the awful, botched attempt that got out of his mouth instead. They’re going to be really late, but Sousuke ignores his protests and just shoves him into the passenger seat. The sunlight _really_ stings his eyes and Rin wishes he could just stay at his desk all day (hopefully take a nap, too), but Sousuke is _very_ picky about coffee and, if he claims a place is good, it’s best to just take his word for it.

At least he can get some sleep while they drive all the way to the other side of the town.

Sousuke shakes Rin awake once they’re parked in front of a rather pretty restaurant, and Rin pretends to still be asleep. He gets jolted awake at the blare of the horn, though, and Sousuke earns himself some lovely, drowsy expletives.

Rin finds himself fully awake when he notices that the sound summons someone from the inside of the restaurant.

A certain very very blue-eyed someone.

“The usual?” Nanase’s curiously bored question is answered with a short nod, and Rin doesn’t miss how he cranes his neck just a bit to the side, peeking into the car, past Sousuke, and right at _him_. “… extra espresso, I guess.”

He’s back in the building before Rin’s jaw can drop to its full extension.

“You,” he growls, repeatedly jabbing a finger at Sousuke’s arm angrily, “are an asshole.”

Sousuke grins, leaning back against the driver’s seat, and taps the steering wheel with his fingers. “Told you the chef was cool.”

Rin scowls at Sousuke, scowls at him all the way until the take away is brought to the car, scowls until Sousuke passes him his coffee and his donuts. He scowls and frowns at him, and then at the cup in his own hands.

The frown doesn’t last, though, because there’s a ridiculously cute drawing of a sharp-toothed, cartoon shark with a police hat scowling right back at him on top of it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NO REGRETS EVER


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which dolphins are complete assholes and Rin sucks at first times.

 

 

The next day, Sousuke agrees without any fuss to Rin’s offer to fetch their usual coffee order. Rin would have gladly headed back to the restaurant ASAP after his shift ended, but he had been much too sleep deprived to make a good impression—or to get the answers he needed.

Rin refuses to admit he is dense enough to not notice both his crush _and_ his best friend conspiring against him. (‘In his favor’, Sousuke had argued with a wordless smile. Rin thinks he’s the best _and_ the worst wingman in history, but he doesn’t say it.)

Therefore, the next day Rin finds himself sitting on one of the small tables outside of the restaurant, fiddling with his bangs for the hundredth time (he feels like he spent hours in front of the mirror earlier, but his hair still refuses to cooperate, even now) as he waits for Nanase to fetch him their usual. An Americano and a Macchiato, extra shots, no sugar. Four donuts, two plain, two glazed. Take away.

Truth be told, Nanase isn’t really supposed to serve customers, but Rin has overheard the other employees talking, and it seems he’s been personally taking the officer’s orders lately (guessing from their choice of words, the girls seem pretty taken with Sousuke, he notices. _Grabbing attention on all fronts, as usual_ , Rin snorts).

Rin is in the middle of biting the inside of his cheek when Nanase sets a delicious-looking cup of Flat White and a plate with a bagel in front of him. His expression is blank, but his gaze looks slightly off, almost as if he isn’t entirely sure of what to look at. Rin chuckles.

“What’s this?” He asks, taking the cup, and upon noticing that the latte art on it is in the shape of a cute dolphin, his grin intensifies. This guy is adorable.

“It’s on the house,” Nanase replies, finally deciding to stare at the bagel instead of directly at Rin. (After a moment of silent deliberation, he turns the plate so it’s at the right angle.)

“I’ll be late for work, you know?” Rin whines in between confident smiles, but he takes a sip anyway (it’s as delicious as it looks). Nanase just shrugs.

“It’s okay.”

“It’s not okay, idiot,” Rin complains, but his laughter betrays him. He goes into a coughing fit when he notices the slight smile on Nanase’s face, though, and then promptly refuses the offer for a glass of water (he doesn’t need any more competition at the moment, please and thank you).

He’d better get to the point before he chickens out—or before Nanase succeeds in bribing him out of it.

“So? What’s your deal with Sousuke?” he finally asks, and the words only sound just a _little_ bit choked. He’s trying to look unpreoccupied but, while he trusts his best friend with his life, no question, Rin still can’t help feel a little uneasy about Nanase’s answer.

As if on cue, Nanase’s smile fades, and he makes an extremely long pause, which doesn’t help Rin’s nerves in the least.

He hopes Nanase will answer soon, because this drink is probably the best Rin has ever had in his life, and he doesn’t really feel like losing his appetite right now. But Nanase seems to have other plans, as he’s obviously measuring each and every single word before speaking, and the little, serious frown on his face shouldn’t make Rin want to smile as much as it does.

Stupid mood swings. Rin’s no lovesick idiot, for crying out loud.

“…it was the same uniform,” is what is muttered at last, and Rin blinks. Nanase pauses again, almost as if unsure of how to continue, so Rin does his best to ease the pressure on him by focusing on his free food instead, trying to act as naturally and as casually as possible. “He came by for coffee, and I saw the uniform was the same.” If the water cooler at the station had it bad under Nanase’s stare, Rin doesn’t want to know how that poor bagel feels right now. “So I asked.”

Rin clears his throat.

He takes a bite of his bagel before speaking, and it’s a pleasant surprise that it’s salty, not sweet. Rin can’t help but wonder just _how much_ Nanase asked. “You never stopped by the station.”

“You never stopped by the restaurant.”

Rin snorts, and imagines that Sousuke must be grinning his ass off back at his desk right now. _Touché_.

“If you serve meat and kimchi, _maybe_ I’ll think about it,” he grins, an eyebrow raised teasingly, and Nanase finally looks at him, a slight frown on his face. If Rin didn’t know any better, he’d say Nanase just took his words as a personal challenge.

Rin likes challenges.

“Let me get your order,” Nanase mutters instead, heading back inside at last, and the competitive tension deflates instantly.

Rin probably has no reason to feel as giddy as he does right now, but he can swear the smile on his face is probably stuck in place for good.

 

* * *

 

Rin knows he’s got to take the initiative if he wants Nanase to take him seriously. It’s the only way he has of proving his interest in him goes further than just being able to successfully arrest him. Exchanging a few words with him while ordering coffee isn’t going to cut it, and waiting for Nanase to show up half-naked in a random body of water is not proactive enough.

This is what Rin has been telling himself the entire day, through his shower, his shift, his patrols, his lunch, his ride home, his panicked raid of the closet for a good outfit.

This is what Rin is telling himself as he stands in front of Nanase’s door, a finger hovering over the doorbell.

This is what Rin has been telling himself for 15 minutes straight.

He still hasn’t rang the doorbell once.

Rin scratches his neck with a sigh, trying to do away with all the stress that has piled up on his shoulders. Why is this so difficult? What is he afraid of? (Seriously, what are the odds of the door being opened to reveal an army of tiny Nanase Harukas, a faithful wife, and a dog?)

(Nanase doesn’t wear a wedding band. He’s checked.)

“Ah! It’s you!”

A voice breaks into his thoughts from down the stone steps behind him, and Rin backtracks a little to find the kind-faced, large guy from last time smiling at him.

“Haru’s not at home,” he says, and Rin immediately notices the familiar sensation of déjà vu, clicking his tongue. Figures. Nanase is never where Rin wants him to be (not in his house, not in the water where he can catch him, not in a relationship with him…). It seems like the “visit Nanase’s house in a cool outfit to hopefully get him to agree on a hypothetical date” plan is now officially ruined, but Rin decides to at least head down the steps and give the guy a proper greeting. He _has_ been nice enough to spare him the pain of waiting for another stressful 15 or 20 minutes in vain, after all.

“Hey,” Rin mutters, bowing his head a little, and the guy just smiles at him. His discomfort from the last time is completely gone (probably due to the lack of Rin’s uniform), and Rin feels a strange wave of… _safety_ emanating from him, blanketing him all of a sudden. He finds himself thinking of campfires and homemade food.

How weird.

“Matsuoka, right? I was about to head for the restaurant,” the guy offers, his voice just as gentle as his expression, “would you like to come along?”

Rin nods blankly, his thought processes completely impaired as they start walking together.

This guy, who he’s only met once before, is clearly Nanase’s friend. They haven’t been properly introduced.

And yet— _he knows Rin’s name_.

That can only mean one thing, and Rin’s stomach lurches so suddenly that he’s glad he had a very light lunch earlier today.

 

* * *

 

Rin is surprised that, as soon as they walk inside the restaurant, one of the waitresses immediately waves at them, and rushes to accommodate them at a small table near the back. Makoto (he insists that Rin calls him by his name, and Rin feels a little awkward about it, but agrees anyway) thanks the girl, and in the short time it takes her to bring the menus to the table, more than half of the employees have either stopped by to say hi, or waved from their assigned stations.

(Rin feels _really_ awkward.)

“Is it your first time here?” Makoto doesn’t even look at his menu, setting it aside to take the napkin and place it on his lap. When Rin nods, his eyes alternating between Makoto’s and the bilingual French/Japanese names on the pages, Makoto’s smile turns wider. “If it’s Haru’s cooking you want to try, skip to the fish.”

Oh no.

Oh no, no no no no, _no_.

Please don’t let him be _that_ obvious. _Please_.

Rin opens his mouth to deny the accusation, but the smile on Makoto’s face is so understanding and disarming that, instead, he finds himself immediately skipping to the fish section of the menu with a small grunt.

He’s not blushing. He’s not.

He turns the pages roughly, and when he makes it to the right one, his eyes go wide. Makoto lets out a small laugh, like he knows exactly what Rin is staring at.

“It’s his favorite,” he says, just as Rin’s eyes go over the seventh mackerel dish in a row. Rin is honestly surprised to see how many different ways of cooking one single kind of fish there are out there, but he still wonders how the hell Nanase got away with getting them _all_ in one menu at the same time. As if sensing the question in his head, Makoto chuckles. “It’s all thanks to Haru that the fish dishes here are so well-known.”

Rin is actually pretty impressed. He hasn’t tried anything but a few donuts, a few coffee drinks, and a bagel (all of which were delicious), so he can easily guess that Nanase is good at what he does. But seeing the influence that Nanase has had in an entire restaurant menu first hand is… really cool, actually. Then again, that would explain how Nanase had gotten such a high ranking position at such a young age (and in spite of all the time he seems to waste doing weird stuff instead of _actually_ working).

(And really, _fish?_ He shouldn’t even be surprised, at this point.)

When his eyes glide over the Mackerel-and-Pineapple pizza monstrosity that he’s had the sour fortune of being within sniffing distance of before, Rin barks out an involuntary laugh.

“It’s the pizza, isn’t it?” Makoto asks, and he too joins Rin in his laughter.

Someone clears their throat beside them, and both Rin and Makoto freeze. They turn painfully slowly in the direction of the sound, and find none other than Nanase standing by their table.

He doesn’t look very amused.

Rin clears his throat, hurriedly following through his carefully rehearsed emergency evasion tactics. (His mirror can vouch for their effectiveness.) Setting the menu on the table carefully, he runs a hand through his hair, tilts his head slightly to the side, and smirks at Nanase.

Smooth. Can’t go wrong with that.

“As promised,” he begins, his voice velvety and alluring, “I came to pay you a vi—”

“Makoto,” Nanase cuts in, ignoring Rin completely. “Why is he here?”

_RUDE_.

Rin’s mouth is already open, ready to protest against the unfair treatment he’s receiving, but unfortunately Makoto beats him to it.

“He was at your house,” he says, missing all the panicked gestures that Rin is making to get him to _please shut the hell up_ , and hands his menu back to Nanase without even opening it. Rin’s face is crimson at this point, humiliated and defeated, “I couldn’t just leave him there.”

Nanase’s face spells out that he’s not happy with that answer. He doesn’t speak again, and instead glares at Rin, forcing him to hold his breath.

It’s almost as if he’s _daring_ him to laugh at his pizza again. Rin won’t do it again. Never.

Before Rin can even do as much as glance at his menu one more time, Nanase swipes it away from his grasp, and walks back into the kitchen without another word. Rin watches him go, and then looks at Makoto, a half-desperate, half-indignant expression on his face. Makoto’s smile is nothing but pacifying, and perhaps a little sheepish.

“It’s his favorite,” he repeats, apologetically, and Rin slams his forehead against the table.

 

Rin shouldn’t have expected any less.

Nanase is not only serving them the _goddamn_ pizza, but is also standing right by the table as they eat it. He looks like a strange cross between an angry watch dog and one of those heartless judges from those horrible entertainment shows that feed on people’s embarrassment.

Rin gulps, taking a slice in his hands and staring at it. The cheese falls off the sides at a snail’s pace, making the slab of pineapple-topped mackerel on it look _exceedingly_ more disgusting than it normally would.

Oh, who is he kidding. In no alternate universe would something like this look even nearly appetizing, pineapple or no pineapple.

Nanase’s glare on him burns like a branding iron, and Rin tries his best to mask the disgust in his expression. He lifts his eyes and sees Makoto, who looks like he wants to apologize a thousand times, but the damage has been done, and there’s nothing that can save Rin now.

His only relief is that Makoto is a firefighter. He should know what to do during an emergency. Rin can rest easy that, should the worst come to pass, he will at least have a (slim) chance of survival.

Taking a deep breath, he brings the slice closer to his mouth, his courage fueled both by irritation and a competitive urge to beat Nanase at his own game.

After all, Sousuke downed one of these entirely on his own. It can’t be _that_ bad, right?

_Wrong_.

 

“If it helps,” Makoto sighs, emptying his third glass of water in a row (he seems to have stepped out of line in Nanase’s eyes somehow, and thus had been forced to go through the trial along with Rin, as well), “it’s never tasted this awful before. It’s usually not that ba—”

“It doesn’t,” Rin groans, trying his hardest to forget the awful taste that still lingers on his tongue. Maybe if he pours boiling water on it, he’ll succeed at burning all of his taste buds off, and he’ll never have to go through this kind of pain again. “It really doesn’t. At all.”

He vows never to make fun of Nanase’s cooking again, ever.

Makoto suddenly laughs, though, and Rin stares at him incredulously. He either has an iron stomach, or this is something Nanase pulls off fairly regularly and he’s already used to it. Rin can’t feel more sorry for him—not more than he already does for _himself_ , though, seeing as he’s not just trying to become friends with Nanase, but actually trying to _court_ him. Nanase, of all people. Chronic stripper and evil master chef extraordinaire. Rin can’t help but wonder if he’s not making some horrible mistake, the likes of which get people killed in a horror movie—and man, that pizza truly _was_ horror movie material.

(Maybe Nanase isn’t the only one with an awfully weird taste. In that sense, they’re sort of made for each other.)

(Hey. Rin can dream.)

Makoto seems to notice the question in his eyes, and speaks up again.

“It’s just—hm.  It’s nice to see Haru so interested in someone, that’s all.”

Rin’s stomach flips again and, this time, it’s not because of the urge to throw up.

 

* * *

 

“Psst, hey! Matsuoka!” Rin lifts his eyes from his paperwork to see Nakagawa grinning at him from the door, hiding behind a file to point eagerly in the direction of the entrance. “Code Future Fish!”

Rin sputters, running a hand through his hair with a growl, and his face turns even redder when Nakagawa offers him a thumbs up. He had figured that focusing on his reports would help him forget his nerves, but it turns out he’s not only still as fidgety as he was when he first woke up, but has also made absolutely zero progress on his work. With a choked whine, Rin holds his head in his hands, and tries to even his breathing. Sousuke smiles, passing by his desk to pat him in the back.

“Go. I’ll take care of that,” he whispers, and Rin groans.

“We got you covered, Matsuoka!”

“Go get him!”

Rin hurries to sort out his stuff and get away from his desk solely so he can spare himself from all the encouragement. It’s only making him even more nervous about the whole thing.

“You did bring a swimsuit with you, didn’t you?” Sousuke whispers over his shoulder when he stands up, and Rin elbows him off, rushing over to the changing room with at least three layers of a healthy, deep red blush on his cheeks.

One of these days, he will strangle every single one of his companions. Or maybe set the station on fire. He hasn’t decided yet.

This is totally _not_ what codenames are for.

 

* * *

 

Rin tries to put the whistling and the endless teasing behind him as he finally manages to make his way out of the station, now changed into his casual clothes (saddle shoes, a pair of tight fitting pants, a dress shirt, and a suit jacket _are_ casual clothes, dammit. It’s not his fault if the others can’t appreciate a decent fashion sense), and silently begs for Nanase not to have heard anything. Rin is already nervous enough to deal with _that_ kind of embarrassment, too. It’s their first “date,” after all—or well, their first chance to spend some time together that _doesn’t_ involve Nanase having stripped beforehand.

(In some ways, Rin is a little disappointed by that. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy the sight of Nanase’s half-naked, wet body.

But he also honestly wants to get to know Nanase better, learn a few things about him, and hopefully grow closer to him.

It’s not Rin’s fault that their relationship literally started with clothes off, really.)

As soon as he walks out of the building, Rin catches Nanase staring at the station entrance. He’s standing a few steps away from it, looking bored, but his eyes instantly widen at the sight of Rin. Rin’s eyes widen a little too, and he immediately breaks into a grin.

He absolutely cannot find any part of himself complaining about Nanase being fully clothed anymore.

Nanase’s style is rather simple (layered t-shirts, one V-neck, one rounded; a pair of glorious, form-fitting reddish pants; running sneakers), but it’s painfully obvious how easy it is for him to look stunning with little effort. With just one glance, Rin can’t help go through a bunch of outfits in his head that would fit Nanase perfectly, and his grin briefly turns into a smirk when he can’t help imagining what it would be like to get him _out_ of them, either.

(Focus, Rin. _Focus_.)

He walks up to Nanase with a little spring in his step (not so slow that he looks unwilling, not so fast that he looks desperate), and instinctively puts an arm around his shoulder, smiling all the way. Nanase looks a bit surprised, and for a moment Rin panics, wondering if it wasn’t too much, too bold of a move—but Nanase doesn’t push him away after all, and the jitters that Rin has been feeling all day suddenly begin attacking him again.

He’s really gonna do it. A date with Nanase. An actual date.

Boy, is he nervous.

Nanase keeps staring at him like he’s expecting him to say something, so Rin does what he does best: improvise.

(He’d better not ruin this.)

“So, Nanase,” he begins, a slight hint of teasing in his tone. Nanase doesn’t seem put off by it, and Rin takes it as a green light to continue, “where are you planning on taking me, hm?”

Rin forces his smile into a broader grin, and the panic flutters in the pit of his stomach again.

Thankfully, the unintentional innuendo doesn’t seem to register in Nanase’s face ( _SCORE_ ), and he simply pulls two tickets from his pocket, placing them in front of Rin’s face for him to see.

Rin’s face blanches.

Nanase’s only condition for agreeing on this date of sorts (“hanging out” is what Rin called it upon first suggesting it, casually, after stopping by for coffee, since they’re not _actually_ dating— _yet_ ) was to be the one to decide on the time and place. Rin did not voice a single complaint back then, but looking at the tickets now, he wonders if it wasn’t actually an awful decision not to intervene.

“…seriously.”

Nanase nods with conviction, and Rin sighs.

“If you take even _one_ layer of clothing off—”

“I won’t.”

Nanase’s bold tone splashes some relief onto him, and with another sigh, Rin finds himself smiling again. Retrieving his arm from Nanase’s shoulder (who follows his every move with his eyes; hey, Rin feels quite flattered), he points with his head in the direction of the train station.

“Then let’s get going.” Rin turns around with the swiftness of a shampoo commercial model—and barely avoids slamming his face headfirst into a lamppost.

The universe clearly hates his guts.

He _might_ still be on time to ask for a do-over.

There seems to be at least a sliver of mercy left in this world, however, because no comments on the slip are made, and Nanase is quick to fall wordlessly into step with him, arms loosely at his sides.

The giddiness starts acting up again, and Rin’s smile turns genuine.

His hands are in his pockets now, but he hopes that, by the end of this date, he’ll have Nanase’s hand in his instead.

 

* * *

 

For once in his life, Rin is happy the train is packed.

He has Nanase’s entire body pressed against his side, and if he concentrates hard enough, he can feel his breath against his neck, soft and warm (Rin tries not to concentrate _too_ hard, or else there will be extremely embarrassing consequences). Someone in the train shifts, and Rin is certain he can feel Nanase’s thigh brush against his hand.

Quick, think of something. _Anything_.

“Uh, hey—I was wondering if, you know… ” Rin speaks quietly, but Nanase’s eyes immediately turn to him, fixed on his profile. Rin gulps, shoving his hand into his pocket (just in case), and turns to him as well. “Since neither of us is working right now, I thought I could, I don’t know, call you by your name? We can keep the surnames for strictly professional matters and—”

“Okay.”

The carefully crafted, confident smirk on Rin’s face is practically slapped off by Nanase’s quick reply, and Rin hurries to suppress his expression of surprise with a lightning-fast smile.

Well. This not-quite-a-date is already looking up.

“Really? Cool. That’s good. Oh, you can call me Rin, too.” He throws a small shrug in to make the conversation sound less serious than it actually is. His heart is _totally_ not racing a mile a minute, of course not. “If you like. No pressure—”

“Okay. Rin.”

The train rumbles on, there’s a horribly sweaty salary man pressed against his other side, and a kid keeps begging his mother to let him play some games on the phone. It’s hardly the ideal setting. Highly anticlimactic, even. It’s actually one of the worst he could have ever conjured up, but Rin is still certain that, with the two of them standing there, staring at each other, the world stops spinning for a few seconds.

(The cue for the shoujo romance filters would be now, thank you very much.)

He should probably be at least a little bit irritated by how easily Nana—

… wait, that’s not right.

He should probably be at least a little bit irritated by how easily _Haruka_ ( _aaaaaAAAAAAaaA **aaaAAAAAAA** )_ deals with the matter at hand, but Rin doesn’t really care right now. It’s not even 10 minutes in and they’ve already moved onto first name basis, and Rin just wants to scream and cry and pump his fist in the air, all at once, in the middle of the packed train car. Hell, he’d probably hug the sweaty dude beside him, even, but he can’t afford to ruin his meticulously combined outfit, so does his best to stay calm and, more importantly, stay _cool_. The sound of his name in Na—Haruka’s ( _is this even_ _happening_ ) voice sounds so _nice_ , Rin would say _fitting_ , even, that he feels like he’s soaring and melting at the same time.

He wonders how it’s possible to feel like such a swell guy and such a huge loser at the same time.

Haruka is still staring at him with those gorgeous eyes of his, though, so Rin snorts and looks away.

 

The walk from the station is quiet. It’s extremely difficult for Rin not to give in to the urge to reach for Haruka’s hand (it’s right _there_ , hanging loosely at his side), but he endures it. He can afford to be a little patient. He did allow himself the luxury of putting his arm around his shoulder earlier, so his quota of physical contact should be more than filled by now.

(Rin finds himself wanting a little extra, though. Like those little butter or lemon-flavored cookies that Haruka sometimes slips into his and Sousuke’s take away.)

His imagination decides to supply him with an image of his own fingers slipping one of those cookies between Haruka’s lips, and Rin goes into another coughing fit.

Luckily there’s plenty of water at their destination, Haruka comments after they’ve paused for Rin to catch his breath, his hand still on Rin’s back.

Screw first names, screw holding hands, screw everything. Rin will be lucky to _live_ past this outing of theirs.

 

* * *

 

The aquarium is nicer than Rin imagined it would be. Haruka only reaches for his collar a grand total of two times, and on both occasions it ends up having nothing to do with stripping. Rin catches himself thinking of the first time while working on the solution for the second one: namely, buying drinks for the two of them.

They had both been walking slowly, peacefully watching the impressive ceiling-high tanks. Upon spotting the sharks, Rin had made a comment about the drawing on his coffee cup from the previous week with a laugh. Haruka had then looked away, eyes fixed on the tank, and had raised his hand to pull at his own collar softly, to Rin’s immediate alarm.

“Wait, Haru—”

Rin’s words had been cut short when Haruka had snapped his gaze back towards him, his eyes wide in anticipation, and the last syllable of the name had died in his throat, just like that. (Haruka _really_ needed to drop that habit of making the world stop around them with that stupidly beautiful face of his.)

Rin had been quick to close his gaping mouth, snort, and mask his surprise with a chuckle.

“What the hell, I thought you were actually going to do it.”

Haruka had just huffed and turned his attention back to the tank, unfazed.

“I said I won’t,” he had muttered calmly, but instead of reassuring him, the words had made Rin’s heart become anything _but_ calm, and refuse to stop racing.

 

It had been an accident, but a fortunate one at that.

Because now, as Rin walks back to Haruka, who is waiting for him on a bench, eyes lazily following a manta ray, he can hand the water bottle he just bought to him, a smile on his face, the happy accident rolling comfortably off his tongue.

“ _Ha_ - _ru_ ,” he grins, pushing the bottle against Haruka’s shoulder until he turns his eyes towards him. Haruka doesn’t complain, not about the nickname, and not about Rin’s singsong tone, and simply takes the bottle with a small thank you.

Rin could not be happier with this outing. Yes, Haruka is pretty absorbed in the different displays but Rin doesn’t feel ignored in the slightest. He can’t prove it, but he can _feel_ Haruka’s attention on him, he can see him eyeing him for reactions—perhaps he’s worried that Rin might be bored? Rin hasn’t given him any reason to be. He’s having a lot of fun, actually. The animals are cool, the company is good (very good), and there’s just the right amount of people for them not to be alone, but to have the right amount of privacy, as well. He’s got to admit, this is a really nice place for a date, after all. Pretty romantic. He’s actually surprised that Haruka had made this pick; if he wanted water, he could’ve always chosen a swimming pool, right?

… unless.

Rin stops walking. His cheeks suddenly flare up and his heartbeat accelerates, because what if this actually _is_ a date, what if Haruka picked the aquarium with the idea of a _romantic date_ in mind, and Rin’s only considering that possibility now.

He looks around and notices families, couples.

Rin gulps.

… seriously?

He watches Haruka, who’s stopped walking a bit farther ahead, an adorably pensive look on his face as his eyes follow a group of sea turtles swimming leisurely. Rin watches him, and thinks back to Haruka’s glances, to his alert quietness, to his arms loosely placed within Rin’s reach. Rin has been trying to take things slowly, to not get his hopes up too much, but… what if, what _if_.

What if he doesn’t have to wait?

What if this is Haruka’s way of saying it’s okay?

Rin takes a deep breath.

Only one way to find out.

Rin crosses the short distance between them, and he stands beside Haruka, eyes darting between him and the turtles. He’s decided, but that doesn’t mean he’s any closer to knowing _how_ to do it. Should he be casual about it? Should he ask? Maybe he should just tug on Haruka’s sleeve like it’s no big deal, and then—

The hand that is over Haruka’s mouth slowly drops to the side. Rin’s heart thumps really loudly.

He’s not imagining things. He can’t be. It _is_ an invitation, and Rin is going to take it.

He’s gonna do it. He’s really gonna do it.

Rin’s mouth is set into a firm line, and his fingers twitch slightly as he slowly, slowly, reaches towards Haruka’s hand. Each millimeter makes his heart crunch with an excruciating mixture of anxiety and nervousness. He’s pretty certain he’s stopped breathing somewhere along the way. But he’s gonna do it. He’s gonna hold Haruka’s hand and they’re going to—

Rin glances to the side, just to make sure his aim isn’t off, only to find that Haruka has already begun walking towards the next tank.

_Crap_.

“Oi, Haru—!”

It’s instinctive and impulsive (and really, Rin should just stick with that approach instead of overthinking everything), and in a split second Rin finds he’s effectively stopped Haruka on his tracks. Haruka is staring at him, eyes oddly wide and _bright_ , and Rin’s mouth is still open.

He looks down.

His fingers are wrapped around Haruka’s wrist.

Rin’s brain cells effectively short circuit and stop working.

He breathes in sharply and (without allowing his head a chance to pause and reboot and, Heaven forbid, _think_ ) he loosens his hold _just_ enough to slide his fingers down, very slowly, along Haruka’s soft, soft skin. His fingertips itch, and Rin gulps.

Haruka’s hand doesn’t move.

Rin spreads his fingers, his heart rate spiking when he starts wrapping them around Haruka’s, and his skin feels so clean and silky against his that Rin has to mentally remind himself to keep breathing.

When he finally takes Haruka’s hand in his, Rin can swear something audibly _clicks_ inside him.

So this is the hand of a man that works with his fingers—

(Dammit, Rin, _FOCUS_.)

“I want to see the dolphins,” is all Haruka says, and Rin wonders if the butterflies in his stomach will ever shut up at this rate.

 

Half of Rin’s brain is less focused on the date (it’s clearly a date and he can’t deny it anymore) and more on how warm Haruka’s hand is, and the other half is busy praying that his palms aren’t as sweaty as he feels they are. Haruka doesn’t seem to mind, however, and the way in which he’s started sharing small tidbits on the different species they’re seeing makes Rin feel like he’s falling into a bottomless pit of bubbles and rainbows. He’s pretty sure he could take a bullet right now and not feel a thing.

Rin chuckles at the sheer stupidity of it all, and Haruka glances at him curiously.

He should _not_ be that gorgeous. Rin feels his breath catch in his throat, and he asks a random question he doesn’t even register himself. All he can think of is the way in which Haruka’s lips move as he answers; he can hear the words (something about feeding habits? Or is it about seasonings?), but he can’t process them. Each word, each syllable sounds beautiful in his voice, and Rin wonders if maybe that’s the reason why Haruka isn’t a man of many words. It’s almost as if he’s not listening to language but to music, colors, perfumes—

Yeah, he doesn’t need anyone’s gagging noises. Rin himself is disgusted by how awfully corny his goddamn crush is.

But really, it’s not his fault that Haruka’s lips look so _soft_ and perfect.

He wonders what they taste like. Probably just as delicious as his coffee.

Maybe if he can just—

“Males also mate between each other sometimes.”

Rin sputters. His train of thought crashes, burns, and falls off a bridge into the abyss.

“What the—wait, _huh!?_ ”

For a split second, Haruka seems a little taken aback by Rin’s sudden outburst, but his expression quickly turns neutral again. “It’s nature,” he says matter-of-factly, and Rin’s mouth is still hanging open, but no sounds are coming out. “Do you think it’s weird?”

What?

“Wait, I—what?”

Haruka’s eyes narrow a little, and then he turns back towards the tank. Rin doesn’t even remember what the hell they’re supposed to be watching right now.

What were they talking about, even? He feels like he really should have been paying more attention.

(Curse those stupidly pretty lips.)

“Forget it.”

Haruka walks out of his grasp, and Rin stares at his back as he moves on ahead.

… okay, _what just happened?_

Haruka is sticking close to the glass separating him from the water. Inside the tank, a dolphin follows him, spinning playfully and eyeing Haruka curiously.

Right. _Dolphins_. It’s the dolphins—they’re watching the dolphins that Haruka pretty much _loves_ , and Rin now remembers he had asked Haruka if they liked mackerel as much as he did (and it totally wasn’t a jealous jab. It wasn’t). Then Haruka had started rambling about the different ways to cook mackerel, and Rin had gotten caught up in the movement of his pretty lips.

He can’t remember how many times he’s cursed himself today, but it’s probably more than enough to guarantee the need for an exorcism or something. He’s positive a bullet wouldn’t hurt as much as the knowledge that he might have offended Haruka (again) does.

He’s got to fix this, he’s got to hurry and fix this, fast.

Rin scratches his neck, walking around in circles as he thinks— _tries_ to think, really, but he’s running out of time, and Haruka is right _there_ , and Rin shouldn’t feel so panicked about every single thing he does around him. But he can’t help it, he really doesn’t want to ruin this, and—damn, he already feels like he fucked up to the moon and back, but what can he do? He can’t just walk up to Haruka and say ‘ _I’m sorry, it’s not like I don’t care about dolphins; they’re actually kinda cool (not as cool as sharks though) but I just got distracted by your lips because I want to kiss you,’_ right? There’s no way he can do that! Holding hands is one thing but… a kiss on the first date!? He hasn’t even confessed properly yet! He’d definitely scare Haruka off like that and no, Rin absolutely can’t have that. That’s the last thing he wants.

But he can’t just let Haruka walk away, either. Rin doesn’t need Sousuke there to tell him—he knows, he knows he fucked up really badly. Rin hisses, glaring at a dolphin that’s casually staring at him, swimming in circles like it’s making fun of his nervous pacing.

It should be fine if he just apologizes, right?

The dolphin does a little twirl in the water, distracting him again, and Rin growls.

“Oh yeah? I’ll show you,” he mumbles to it, and he can swear the naughty little thing _laughs_ at him.

With renewed strength (and a messy thread of nerves twisting and turning in his gut), Rin walks up to Haruka again, watching from the side as he stares firmly at the dolphin that has been following him all this time. The dolphin stares right back at him, shifting to the side slightly as Haruka presses his hand against the glass. Rin feels only the tiniest bit of remorse for butting into their silent conversation, but hey, drastic measures.

He opens his mouth to speak—and nothing comes out.

The dolphin tilts its head.

Rin grinds his teeth together and tries again—and again, he has no idea how to say what he wants to say.

The dolphin flips over and straightens back again, vocalizing cheerfully.

(They’re laughing, Rin knows they’re laughing at him and his inability to properly communicate with his crush. Assholes.)

Maybe Haruka’s predilection for actions over words has rubbed off on him, or maybe he’s just trying to prove he can outsmart the dolphins, because as Rin stares at Haruka, as he watches how the water reflects in his eyes, the nerves start unraveling again and the desire to _just kiss him already_ resurfaces.

Rin takes another step, and this time Haruka does look at him, because they’re standing really close now, even for two people on a date. Rin wonders if his face looks just as red as it feels. He can sense the dolphin’s stare on him from the corner of his eye, and he feels a sudden urge to punch the glass and chase it off. But he reminds himself that not only does Haruka have a soft spot for these devious creatures, but Rin also has no time for distractions.

Taking a deep breath, he shuts his eyes really hard and lunges forward, puckered lips and all.

He’s… pretty sure he hit skin, but he’s also pretty sure that’s not how lips are supposed to feel.

(Well, what does he know. It’s his first kiss, after all.)

(Oh no.)

(Oh no, no no no no _no_ , what if he botched _this_ too—)

Rin cracks an eye open painfully slowly, and he knows he’s looking at skin, indeed, but he’s certain that’s not what a nose is supposed to look like.

He opens his eyes fully to see that the goddamn, smartass little _fucker_ of a dolphin chose that very moment to press his nose against the glass, and that Haruka had turned to look at it—and so Rin’s lips are currently pressed right under Haruka’s _ear_.

If it helps, at least Haruka is just as wide-eyed as he is.

(It doesn’t. It doesn’t help _at all_.)

Rin backs away immediately, struggling to find a way to explain himself (they’re in _public_ , what the hell was he thinking!), and he eventually figures out that his best option is to just bolt and throw himself into the nearest open grave—

—until what is definitely the sound of angels welcoming him into Heaven rings in his ears.

Nanase Haruka is _laughing_.

Rin knows he’s gaping. He knows he’s gaping and blushing and feeling weak at the knees like a lovestruck schoolgirl _but Nanase Haruka is laughing_ right in front of him.

Haruka looks up at him with this blinding _smile_ on his face, and Rin goes through all the emergency numbers he has drilled into his head. He doesn’t have too many possessions, but he should’ve still drafted his will when he had the chance. Thankfully, Haruka is quick to compose himself, and in a few moments it’s like nothing has happened at all.

Rin, however, doesn’t miss how, a little later, when they’re back to walking side by side like two guys casually watching marine animals together on an ambiguously non-romantic date, Haruka’s fingers ghost lightly over the spot where Rin’s lips touched, and his heart audibly skips a beat.

 

* * *

 

Rin lets out an audible sigh when they finally walk out of the aquarium. Haruka stares at him, but he (thankfully, because Rin’s quota of fucking up is filled until next year at the very least) doesn’t take it personally. He seems to know just how stressful the whole date has been to Rin, and if he doesn’t, well, he should. Rin feels like he’s lost at least ten years of his life, and at the same time he can’t help but feel like he’s only just started living— _really_ living, because he’s never felt so intensely (not just happiness or anger or embarrassment or frustration, but feelings in general) like when he spends time with Haruka. His face hurts from smiling, and he’s pretty sure that the blood that’s gathered behind his cheeks is there to stay.

In short, he’s never felt so deathly tired and alive at the same time.

The sky has grown dark by now, but after spending all afternoon staring at nothing but blue (the blue of the water, the blue of Haruka’s eyes) Rin doesn’t really notice. He has a smile on his face as they make their way back to the station slowly, where they wait for the train in silence.

It’s quiet, even as the train finally rolls into the platform some time later, and it’s still quiet as they travel, sitting side by side. Rin takes advantage of the moment to sort his thoughts out—he has a little trouble believing how different it all was from how he had envisioned their first date to be, and how he still somehow got most of what he wanted, either way. First names. The feeling of growing closer. Holding hands. He got a few extras he never thought he would, as well. Knowing what Haruka’s breath on his neck feels like. The feeling of their bodies pressed together (and the unforgettable scent of a sweaty salary man. _Yuck_ ). A kiss—misplaced, but still a kiss, in the end. Haruka’s laughter.

Rin can feel his own heartbeat more strongly than ever before, and his fingers still itch with the urge to feel Haruka’s skin against his one more time.

But all good (and slightly chaotic) things must come to an end, and the train announces their stop. (In truth, Rin should have gotten off a couple of stops back, but he refused to not see this date to the very end.) Haruka stands almost sluggishly, and Rin guesses he must be pretty tired, as well. He wonders if the emotional rollercoaster that he has been riding all afternoon affected Haruka just as much as it did him.

They step out of the train in silence, and Haruka stares off into the distance as it sets in motion again. The rest of the passengers are gone in a few moments, and Rin stands with his hands in his pockets, feeling childishly nervous again.

There’s so much he wants to say, but he feels like no words will be enough.

“I… this was fun,” he manages, his voice uncharacteristically shy, and his eyes fixed on his two-toned saddle shoes. “And—I’m sorry, okay? I… yeah. Sorry.” Haruka turns to look at him, and his expression doesn’t reveal any sort of resentment at all. Instead, he actually looks a little surprised, and Rin smiles at him. “Heh, I might let you pick more often. It was a good date.”

Rin realizes what he just said only when Haruka’s eyes brighten up.

So much for not being obvious.

He tries to speak, to tell Haruka he didn’t mean it like that, but stops himself. Why should he take it back? He _wanted_ it to be a date. And he wanted Haruka to know that, too. It’s better like this. He’s dying of embarrassment, sure, but wasn’t his goal to show Haruka that his interest in him goes further than playing cat and mouse, further than just being friends?

So, after taking a deep breath, Rin closes his mouth and smiles at Haruka again, consciously letting the chance to retract his statement pass him by. This is fine. It’s more than enough for one day. He mutters a small good night, and starts on his way back home, heart jumping in his chest.

Haruka stops him.

“You didn’t answer my question,” he says, his grip strong around Rin’s wrist, the escape effectively ruined. Rin’s brow scrunches up as he rewinds his memory, and it doesn’t take him too long to find what he’s looking for—he’s spent all afternoon trying to forget about it, after all.

“Oh… well, uh,” Haruka’s hand so close to his, his intense stare, his lips pressed into a thin line; it’s all awfully distracting, but Rin gulps and tries his hardest to come up with an appropriate, honest answer anyway. Running away or trying to forget about it are equally unacceptable options. “I… don’t really care?” He shrugs, and Haruka looks a little confused, forcing him to elaborate. “Dolphins can do whatever the hell they want, I guess. As long as they’re happy?”

Rin doesn’t know if he’s hit the ever elusive jackpot or if he’s just made even _more_ of a monumental idiot of himself with that answer. All he knows is that Haruka just snorted at it, and it’s the second cutest sound he’s heard in his entire life.

He is still too busy trying not to smile like a kid watching a bunch of puppies to notice Haruka reaching up to hold his face in his hands.

Rin wheezes.

The warm breath that is exhaled against his nose reminds Rin that he’s probably supposed to be closing his eyes by now, and he suddenly tenses up.

Haruka’s eyes are open as well when their lips touch.

Rin doesn’t know why, but in his mind’s eye he expected something a bit… grander, perhaps. It doesn’t feel like the world has dissolved into white, and he can’t see any flower petals floating in the wind around them, either.

It just feels… soft.

Incredibly soft. And warm.

It’s probably nothing more than a blink, but Rin still notices how Haruka’s eyelids flutter closed right before he breaks the kiss.

Rin’s pretty certain that his entire skeleton melts off at that exact moment.

It’s a good thing that his face is still in Haruka’s hands.

Haruka doesn’t say good night. He doesn’t say _see you next time_ , or _call me_ , or _I’ll miss you_ , or even _goodbye_.

“I wasn’t talking about the dolphins,” is what he says before he walks away, leaving Rin standing alone and stunned and feeling a little bit _too warm_ in the middle of the platform.

The breath he didn’t know he was holding escapes through his lips almost as if the very last ounce of rational thought he had left is leaving him for good.

And just like that, Rin finally understands what it feels like to be stupidly and completely head over heels in _love_.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Up next, finally a first time during which it's Haru's turn to suck instead.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rin has another close encounter with Haru's weirdness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SORRY FOR THE extremely unexpectedly awfully LONG WAIT! It would be boring to try and explain everything that kept this (incomplete) chapter from being posted all these months, so I won't go into that.
> 
> I will tell you that, in order to make the wait shorter, and also in order to give myself some semblance of progress, I decided to split the would-be chapter 3 into two parts. So what you're about to read is the first part (not half, cause I have no idea exactly how long it will end up being when it's finished) of what was supposed to be the 3rd and final chapter of this fic. But, hey, you're reading something new, right!? That's gotta count, right!?
> 
> Many many _many_ apologies again for keeping you all waiting for so long, and thank you _so much_ to all those who have continued being interested in this story all this time. Thank you for all the messages and the comments! I don't usually deviate from my original plans (aka posting the 3rd chapter all in one go), but your enthusiasm and encouragement convinced me that this was the best way to get this fic back on track. I hope you all like it! There's a lot more coming up!!

 

Rin’s expression is bathed in extreme concentration as he leans back on the passenger seat, typing away on the tablet in his hands, fingers flicking over the screen as he scrolls through the various search results that have come up to answer his query. Sousuke steers the car flawlessly with one hand as he takes a sip of his Americano, completely ignoring the “Don’t drink and drive” message neatly scribbled onto the cup in black sharpie (the “or else” has been completely scratched out; the other baristas probably argued that Haruka was being too aggressive and made him remove it) in favor of paying attention to the GPS screen instead. They got some sea-salt flavored cookies as a freebie today. Rin is resigned to the fact that Haruka is using them as guinea pigs at this point, but as long as it doesn’t end with the two of them in the hospital, he will appreciate the gesture without complaint. He knows better than to make faces at Haruka’s food now.

“It’s getting cold,” Sousuke mentions when they stop at a red light, and Rin hums in reply as he checks more websites. He doesn’t take his eyes off the screen as he gropes blindly for his own cup, and Sousuke just pushes it into his waiting fingers with a sigh to avoid accidents. “Can’t you do that later?”

Rin shakes his head, but his eyes are still glued to the screen, reading up on his current research topic: dolphins. He isn’t any closer to liking them (he probably never will), but that doesn’t matter. He is a man on a mission. He is doing this for Haruka. And Rin isn’t someone who does things halfway. He takes a sip of his now slightly less warm cup of Flat White, and his eyes glide over the article on dolphin mating rituals he’s currently reading.

“Did you know whale sharks can feed on semen?”

Rin spits out coffee all over the tablet and part of the dashboard.

“What the fuck, Sousuke!?” He growls, holding his arms up in disgust as the lukewarm liquid drips all over his uniform.

Sousuke looks completely unfazed, turning at a corner without a single word of apology. “Curious fact. Just thought you might want to know.”

“I didn’t need to know that!”

Ignoring Rin’s glare, Sousuke shrugs and sips some more coffee. “You’re the one reading up on the homosexual mating behaviors of his boyfriend’s favorite animal.”

Rin can’t tell what part of that statement he hates the most.

(Maybe it’s the fact that all of it is true.)

Instead of retorting, he just throws the dirty tablet on Sousuke’s lap with a scowl, and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. Sousuke just sighs and admonishes him with a frown, waving the coffee cup with the message at him. “Behave. I’m under threat.”

Rin is glad that, after all the Code Future Fish incidents they’ve had to deal with, Sousuke and him always carry at least one towel in their patrol car. He reaches for it and wipes himself dry, and then cleans the dripping coffee off his own cup as well. (What a waste of a perfectly good sip. He’ll get back at Sousuke for this. Maybe he can hide the GPS where Sousuke can’t find it; that’ll teach him.)

He really should stay angry for at least a while longer, but Rin’s scowl morphs into a shy frown when he finds himself staring (for the hundredth time or more; he’s lost count by now) at the cartoon shark growling “Stay safe” drawn in black on the lid.

Sousuke chuckles, and as soon as they stop at a red light, Rin smacks him with the towel on the face.

 

* * *

 

Rin never really expects his phone to ring. He had managed to acquire Haruka’s cellphone number thanks to Makoto (not like he hadn’t already memorized Haruka’s house number along with his address way back when, but it happened to be a pretty useless endeavor, seeing as Haruka is rarely at home whenever Rin calls. Or visits. Or ever, really), but he had been warned that the chances of Haruka ever answering it were pretty damn low. Being the stubborn—correction,  _viciously determined_  man he is, though, Rin had first texted Haruka in hopes that he would save his number, and had then began sending him sporadic texts with random  _‘good morning’_ s,  _‘drove by the pool today, it’s looking good’_  and  _‘looks like it’s gonna rain, don’t be stupid’_  to absolutely no reply whatsoever. (Well, that would be a lie, actually. He  _had_  gotten a photo of a single mackerel fillet on a plate once, and Rin wondered if Haruka had perhaps mixed up his number with someone else’s.) Rin does get to see Haruka and exchange a few words with him whenever they drive by the restaurant, anyway, so he doesn’t need to text him every single day—and he really doesn’t want to come across as desperate or overbearing, but he likes to think that Haruka appreciates knowing that Rin keeps him in his thoughts. Yeah. Rin keeps telling himself these things whenever he wakes up to an expected but still crushingly disappointing lack of messages from Haruka.

Rin never really expects his phone to ring, because he figures Haruka isn’t the kind of person who would snap a random picture of something and send it to someone with an ‘it reminded me of you’ attached (and he has been warned by Makoto not to take it personally; ‘ _that’s just how Haru is’_ ). Haruka isn’t the kind of person who would buy flowers and show up at his crush’s (Boyfriend’s? Love interest’s?) doorstep unannounced.

But Haruka  _had kissed Rin straight on the lips_  on a train station platform one night, at the end of their very chaotic, but undoubtedly romantic date, and Rin has not heard anything about it ever since. He can’t be blamed for feeling a bit antsy.

What is he supposed to think?

Does that mean that they are dating now? Are they a couple? Sure, they’d admitted to finding each other cute, they had gone on  _one_  (just  _one_ ) date together, they had kissed—but Rin hasn’t even had a chance to properly confess yet.

(Sousuke teasing him by referring to Haruka as “your boyfriend” doesn’t count.)

Rin could really use some sort of confirmation from Haruka. Anything would be okay, he’s not greedy. But barely being able to talk to him isn’t doing much in his favor, and Rin might just as well be texting a bot at this point. At least he’d get some messages that way.

Rin never really expects his phone to ring.

But out of the blue and unexpectedly, like all things related to Nanase Haruka, that’s exactly what happens.

Rin is walking calmly towards his desk, toweling his hair dry after a refreshing shower (as much as Rin loves his job, it’s usually slow lately, and sitting around all day makes his muscles feel really sore by the evening), when he notices the message notification light on. It’s late, so it’s probably not Gou, and Makoto is considerate enough to always contact him at a decent hour. He wonders if Sousuke forgot something in the patrol car, and hopes he’s not being asked to go over to the station to retrieve it.

The phone almost slips off his grip when his eyes scan over the contact name, which clearly spells out H, A, R, and U, and no, he’s not dreaming.

(He’d admittedly considered ‘dolphin boy,’ ‘water freak,’ ‘fish chef,’ ‘actual mermaid,’ and the like, but he’d eventually come to the conclusion that any one of those sounded even cheesier and more gag-inducing than stuff like ‘babe’ or ‘mine ♡’.

… Well. He’s actually holding off on that last one until he figures out where they are standing at the moment.)

Rin takes the utmost care in opening the message and reading it over (he almost takes a screenshot of it, even, to save it for posterity), because Haruka has  _finally_  messaged him, and it’s not a weird picture of cooked fish nor something clearly meant for something else.

‘Come over tomorrow after work,’ it says, and Rin’s mouth hangs open long enough that it actually hurts a little when he closes it.

That means he definitely can’t be dreaming.

The timestamp shows the message had arrived while he was in the shower, so Rin is quick to type up a reply, telling Haruka he’ll be free after 6, and asking him if it would be alright to drop by his house around that time.

Even if he has to stay awake and miss work on the morning, Rin is ready to stand with the phone in his hand, in the middle of his room, all night, half-dressed and hair dripping wet, until Haruka’s reply arrives. But again, to his surprise, not even a minute and a half later the phone vibrates in his hands, the notification for the reply popping up in front of his very eyes.

The message contains absolutely zero words.

Instead, it reads nothing but

 

(ﾉㅎ_ㅎ)ﾉ

 

and Rin feels like dying.

 

* * *

 

He’s lost count of how many times he’s found himself in this situation already, but Rin still feels so nervous he sometimes forgets how to breathe.

He’s standing awkwardly in front of Haruka’s door, one-handedly loosening his collar just so, and making sure that his grip on the flowers he’s holding in his other hand is not so tight that he’ll ruin them. He shifts his weight from one foot to the other while he checks his hair for the hundredth time (he’d given up on making it look nice after a long day of work, so he’d just taken a quick shower and pulled it back to save himself the trouble), and he wiggles his toes inside his shoes as he tries, for the fifth time or so, to ring the goddamn doorbell.

He has no idea why this is always so hard.

Haruka asked him to come over. Rin had pretty much fled from work as soon as possible, taking a shower at the station and giving up on going home for a wardrobe change, and headed straight for Haruka’s house, stopping by to get some flowers as an apology upon realizing that no matter how much he ran he was  _still_  going to be late anyway. Rin loved his job, but at the moment he could do nothing but curse it. Curse the false robbery alarm that had turned out to be a drunk man trying to get into his own house through the window because he had misplaced his keys (which turned out to be in his back pocket). Curse the high school student who had almost run into an old lady doing her groceries with his bike because he was in a hurry to buy the latest, limited edition issue of  _MeroMero Princess_ _☆_ _Monthly_ bundled with a special OAD before it sold out (which was thoroughly stupid; he should have preordered his copy online  _months_  ago, like all the smart people did) and who had suffered nothing but minor scratches but had still insisted on having the old lady escorted to the nearest emergency room just in case. Curse the little kid who had gotten lost and needed to find his mom. Curse all cats stuck on trees (bless Makoto’s number on speed dial). Curse everything and everyone, including Rin’s own finger which  _still_ refuses to ring Haruka’s stupid doorbell.

The clock on his phone reads 6:19PM, and Rin bites his lip before holding his breath, pressing the flowers to his chest, and pretty much jabbing the doorbell with fury.

He waits. His heart races, and he waits.

The clock on his phone still reads 6:19PM, and Rin rings the doorbell again.

And again.

And again.

And again and again and again and again and  _why is nobody answering?_

He was late, that much he had already assumed, and was currently in the process of digesting the awkwardness behind it. Rin assumed that Haruka was waiting for him (perhaps a little angry, even), and would slide the front door open forcefully, a frown on his face and a  _‘you’re late’_  in his eyes.

But Rin is there  _now_  and he’s ringing the doorbell and nobody is coming to greet him, and he’s sure this is the right house, and he checks his phone again because Haruka  _did_  ask him to come see him after work (yes, he’s still awake and the message is still in his inbox, and his entire day would have consisted of nothing but spending time with Haruka if he had been dreaming, anyway), and yet nothing is happening.

He’s pretty sure the doorbell is working, he can hear it ringing constantly to no reply. Letting the hand holding the flowers hang at the side of his body again, Rin sighs and knocks loudly on the door.

The door slips open slightly, and Rin’s face blanches.

Shit.

_Haru._

The flowers are immediately dropped to the ground as Rin reaches for the gun in his holster, a finger on the safety.

He’s still holding his breath as he slides the door open ever so slowly, sweeping the quiet and empty-looking house with his eyes and trying his best to keep calm and stick to the procedure. His lips are trembling slightly when he takes a step inside, eyes still frantically looking around for any sign of movement. Rin remembers his training to the letter. He swallows. He’s calm. He can swear he’s calm, but his heart thumps loudly in his chest as panic rises inside of him in the form of a single thought looping in his head.

_Please let him be okay_.

Rin moves slowly, trying to recall the mapping of Haruka’s house in his head. He’s only been here once, but he recognizes the lights on in the living room area, and immediately glances cautiously in the direction of the garden as well. There is no sound anywhere, and Rin doesn’t bother taking his shoes off as he walks further inside, scanning the trees and the bushes in the garden before reaching towards the closed living room door panels. There’s a faint rustle, and Rin freezes, holding his gun at ready.

A fat cat meows, coming out of the bushes, and Rin breathes again.

The cat doesn’t seem too alarmed (it does look a little wary of Rin’s presence, though), so Rin relaxes a little, leaving the garden alone and making his way into the living room at last.

It looks clean; no signs of a struggle. Everything is in the exact same place as the last time Rin found himself at Haruka’s. The kitchen panels are also open, and again, everything seems to be in order. There’s a few pots and pans left lying around here and there on the counter, but it’s nothing that Rin wouldn’t expect of a chef’s house (he’s still surprised at the fairly regular size of Haruka’s kitchen. He had imagined something a lot bigger). There is nobody around, and Rin is hanging right in the middle of being calmer and becoming increasingly more worried.

There’s no sign of Haruka anywhere.

Rin gulps, moving back to the main corridor, and a quick glance up the stairs shows that the lights are off. Rin stands at the bottom of the stairs and listens for any sort of noises, but there’s nothing. He breathes in deep, running a hand through his pulled-back hair. What if Haruka has been bound and gagged and locked into a closet? What if he’s hurt? What if he’s—

No, no no no no. He needs to stay calm. Haruka must be okay. He must.

He needs to stay calm. Finish checking the first floor first. Yes. That’s what he’s going to do.

Rin takes slow steps, the wood under his feet creaking quietly as he heads towards the bathroom area. He cautiously checks the closet, the toilets; everything seems to be in order, but everything is empty. No signs of Haruka. Rin’s grip on his gun feels a little sweaty now.

He moves into the laundry room, as stealthily as possible. The lights are on, and the washing machine is running, the soft thumps reverberating through Rin’s chest and putting him on high alert. There’s a bundle of clothes thrown into one of the baskets, and Rin can’t help staring a little too long at a pair of polka dotted underwear. Shaking a blush off his face and relaxing his grip on the gun a little, his eyes move towards the bathroom door.

Is Haruka in there?

( _Please let him be okay_.)

One. Two. Three steps, and Rin is in front of the door, knees bent slightly. He slides it open slowly, soundlessly, taking a careful look inside.

It’s empty.

There seems to be water in the tub, but he can’t see anything else from the door.

Rin consciously holds his breath as he walks towards it, taking care not to make a sound as he approaches the tub.

There is definitely water in it.

( _Please let him be okay please let him be okay **please let him be okay**_ —)

Rin walks closer, and he’s pretty sure he can see what looks like a leg submerged in the water.

**_Haru_**.

In a flash, Rin holsters his gun and lunges towards the tub, diving with almost half of his body into it as he grabs what is evidently a swimsuit-clad, closed-eyed Haruka lying under the cold water, and yanks him out, arms under the shoulders.

Rin is not even done pulling him out of the tub and Haruka is already struggling, wide-eyed and shocked, and only stops flailing to get out of his hold when he registers Rin’s eyes looking right back at him.

“Rin, wh—”

“Shh,” Rin puts a hand over Haruka’s mouth, and Haruka frowns, immediately trying to pull it away, “quiet.” Rin looks around again, standing up straight and keeping Haruka behind him, hoping that the short commotion and the splashes of water did not alert whoever it was that broke into the house. “The door was open,” he begins, whispering to Haruka who looks a bit surprised, and a little pissed off, “so keep quie—”

“I know.”

Rin freezes mid-sentence, and blinks as Haruka steps out of the tub nonchalantly, casually walking around Rin to fetch a towel. Rin grabs him by the wrist, stopping him.

“What? Look, just stay calm and let me—”

“I left it open,” Haruka cuts in, blandly, and yanks his arm off Rin’s grip, taking a towel in his hands and beginning to dry himself up. Rin’s jaw drops.

“WHAT—”

“You were late,” Haruka states, not even sparing a glance at Rin as he moves out of the bath and into the laundry room, “and I wanted to take a bath. So I left it open.”

Rin stands in the mess that the bathroom has become, drenched, alone, cold, and utterly confused. He’s standing right on the edge between being completely relieved and absolutely furious.

Haruka seems to be alright, though, so he could go for relieved for now.

He inevitable ends up stumbling to the ‘absolutely furious’ side when Haruka reappears at the door to throw a towel and a mop at him with a perfectly blank expression.

“ _Are you out of your goddamn mind!?”_  Rin barks, gripping the items with force, a strand of hair falling comically on his face, “I thought you were—”

“Clean up,” Haruka orders, and shuts the door behind him.

Pressing the towel against his face, Rin muffles a loud scream.

 

 

Rin walks back into the living room, cap in hand, and the towel hanging around his neck, over his still wet clothes. He’d given up on removing his jacket and settling for the undershirt beneath it upon realizing that he’s pretty much drenched through and through. He looks like a storm passed right through him, with his uniform half unbuttoned and his hair sticking out everywhere, but he’s now slightly more relaxed after letting his frustrations out on the wet bathroom floor. He might even cave in to his wildest thoughts and ask Haruka to lend him something of his to wear. That would be a worthy outcome to this horrible, horrible day.

He had envisioned spending a pleasant afternoon at Haruka’s, maybe sit beside him, hold hands, cuddle a little (kiss him a few times…?), and then get some answers on their current relationship status. (Or maybe get some answers first, _then_ kiss him. Yeah.) He really should know by now that nothing works as it should when it comes to Haruka, but Rin still believes it can happen eventually. He just needs to grit his teeth, smile, and persevere. This is all a huge test, and he’ll definitely reap the spoils once he clears it. The universe is his witness.

There’s a very pleasant and distracting aroma coming from the kitchen, though, so a genuine smile breaks into Rin’s face as he walks towards it. He lets his cap drop on the floor beside the low table, and he breathes in deep when he steps inside, fully intent on getting a little taste of whatever it is that Haruka is making.

What he finds when he opens his eyes is Haruka fetching some spices from a cupboard, eyebrows slightly drawn together, completely focused in his task.

Endearing, anyone would say.

Except Haruka is wearing nothing but an apron over his swimsuit.

Rin’s compliment over the pleasant smell dies in his throat, and what comes out instead is a choked whine. Haruka steals a glance at him, stares back for a few seconds, and then goes back to cooking.

There should be a limit to how strange one person can be, Rin decides.

He clicks his tongue, holding back a curse as he quickly unbuttons his uniform at last, takes it off, and hurries to place it over Haruka’s shoulders, completely red in the face.

“It’s wet,” Haruka says blandly, his eyes lingering briefly on the shirt on his shoulders before choosing to stare directly at Rin, who flails around in embarrassment.

“Then put some clothes on!” He cries, pretending to wipe his hair dry again just so he can hide his blush behind the towel.

“I  _have_  clothes on,” Haruka retorts as he turns the mackerel he’s grilling over ( _really?_ ), and he furthers his complaint with a small roll of his shoulders. Rin just groans and fixes the shirt’s position so it will stay in place in spite of Haruka’s efforts. The gesture earns him a short huff. “And you should take your shoes off.”

Rin really feels like arguing, saying he wouldn’t have his shoes on if Haru had answered the door like a normal person does instead of pulling a disappearing act on him that nearly knocked the breath  _and_  at least 5 years of his life out of him. Unfortunately, 90% of Rin’s brain functions are currently focused on pretending he isn’t seeing the small droplets of water that fall from his shirt and roll slowly (painfully slowly) down the fabric of Haruka’s jammers, while the other 10% is reserved for acting as natural as possible. (It’s a good thing that Rin is good at holding his breath.)

Some things just can’t go unseen, though, and Rin feels he might need to dunk his head in the cold bathtub water again very soon.

(He seriously can’t tell whether Haruka owns a thousand identical swimsuits, or if he’s not hallucinating and they actually  _are_  all slightly different. What Rin  _can_  tell is that his perfect, perfect ass looks amazing in each and every one of them, so he really has nothing to complain about.)

 

 

The smell of mackerel is quick to take over the entire house, and Rin finds himself minding it much less than he normally would as he makes his way back to the entrance, his shoes in his hands. The corridor looks much cozier and welcome now that his heart is back in his chest, and Rin squats slowly to deposit his shoes on the floor, right beside Haruka’s sneakers, his gaze lingering on them a little too long. Making doubly sure nobody is watching, he pushes one of his shoes with his finger, inch by inch, until it bumps against Haruka’s left sneaker, and Rin can’t hold back a tiny smile. With a snort, he ponders tying Haruka’s shoelaces together, but when he leans forward the towel almost falls off his head. It shoots him back to reality, making him laugh a little, and leaving his cheeks burning with anticipation and nervousness.

Right. He’d almost forgotten what he’d initially come over for.

Taking the towel in his hands, Rin sits on the floor, head hanging between his knees and eyes fixed on the two pairs of shoes, as he reminds himself yet again that it was Haruka who asked him over today. He’s still anxious about how things haven’t progressed between them, and he still hasn’t gotten an explanation or a reason behind this sudden invitation, but Haruka at least wants him nearby. Sure, he took his sweet time to get around actually using his phone to communicate with him (poorly at best), but weird, quirky, possibly socially-challenged and/or crazy-out-of-his-mind compulsive stripper Nanase Haruka actually invited him over to his place, and Rin is going to find out why if it’s the last thing he ever does (but he’s going to find out what the hell that emote meant first, though).

That, and wherever the hell “they” are now. He really, really needs that information, pronto.

Rin realizes with a tinge of regret that he must have spaced out for quite a bit, because when he walks back into the living room with renewed decision, he finds a now more decently dressed Haruka sitting at the table, where the plates have already been set. As expected, both have a single serving of mackerel on them, and, while Rin has learned his lesson about badmouthing Haruka’s dishes, he’s certainly not going to hold back from jabbing at Haruka’s constant imposition of the stupid fish.

“Mackerel again? Seriously?” Rin sneers playfully, sitting across Haruka with a smile. His uniform shirt has been neatly folded and placed under his cap on the floor, both on top of a towel. He drops the towel in his hands right next to it before speaking again. “Do you ever eat anything else?”

“Nobody’s forcing you to eat it,” Haruka instantly retorts, hands pressed together to give his thanks for the food, and starts eating without giving Rin’s comment a second thought. Rin could totally argue this point, though.

“I’m just saying,” he interjects lightly instead, after giving his own thanks, and starts picking out the flesh of the fillet with his chopsticks. “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, you know? You could cook something different every now and then.”

Haruka stares at him eating for five long seconds (during which Rin feels like the fish he just swallowed might have accidentally ended up in his lungs) and then goes back to his own plate, his expression unchanged.

“Mackerel is good for you.”

Rin groans out loud, guessing any of his perfectly valid counterarguments will elicit the same response, and decides to focus on his food instead of pressing the topic any further. At least, true to Haruka’s professional skills, it’s nothing short of delicious. Overly simple and not impressive, but delicious. After the earlier stunt that Haruka pulled on him, Rin is glad that his stomach isn’t being subjected to some sophisticated dish from some foreign country whose name he probably can’t even pronounce. He should probably be a little thankful for that. (Even if the tension and nerves that gave birth to the knot in his gut were all entirely Haruka’s fault, though.)

They dine in silence, and by the time that half of his dish has been cleared, Rin decides he should probably get on with the program and ask Haruka what the deal with tonight, and between them, (and with that silly emote) is. He goes over the words in his head, his brow creased and his lips involuntarily drawn into a small pout as he tries to think of the best way to ask Haruka about it without sounding neither like a jerk nor like an idiot, but, unfortunately, before he can do so much as string two or three words together, Haruka beats him to the punch.

“You thought I was what?”

Rin lifts his head from his food and blinks, a little startled and very confused.

“Huh?”

Again, Haruka stares at him for five seconds straight, wordlessly, before restating his question.

“Before, in the bathroom. You thought I was what?”

“Uh…” More blinking ensues, and Rin’s brain performs some Olympic medal worthy acrobatics to retrace his thoughts back to that particular moment of the evening, trying to figure out what Haruka might be referring to.

His cheeks turn a little red when he stumbles upon the recollection, and he clears his throat, stuffing himself with mackerel to avoid replying.

“You know,” he gestures randomly, letting his voice trail off and leaving his sentence unfinished. He busies himself with his meal, and after a few moments of silence, he looks up in hopes of seeing Haruka doing the same.

Haruka is still staring at him.

(But _of course_. When has Haruka ever acted like Rin expects him to? He really should know better by now.)

Rin gulps a bit louder than necessary (and there’s no way there’s not at least a few bites of fish meat stuck in his lungs by now), and he places his elbow on the table, resting his head on one hand and gesturing again with the other one.

“Forget it, it was probably nothing. I don’t even remember very we—”

“It didn’t sound like nothing.”

Rin’s motions freeze in midair.

Haruka’s voice doesn’t sound angry, or reproaching, or teasing, even. It’s as flat as can be, his eyes still locked on Rin’s face. There is nothing pressuring about Haruka’s composure at all, but Rin still feels like there’s a spotlight currently trained on him, like he’s being broadcast on world-wide television, and Haruka (and every other human being on Earth) is still waiting for his answer.

“What does it matter?” He laughs, trying to shake the tension off to no avail. It obviously matters to Haruka, otherwise he wouldn’t have asked; Haruka is not the kind of person to waste his breath on meaningless words. However, Rin isn’t sure he can admit his thoughts out loud without sounding like a complete and utter idiot, and that’s not the kind of impression he wants to leave tonight (especially not after being late and making a circus act out of Haruka’s crazy impromptu bath-and-open door performance).

But hey, Rin might be an idiot, but he’s an idiot in love, and Haruka’s very, very blue eyes are still watching him.

So he straightens up and talks.

“I thought you were in d…” In spite of his efforts, his volume drops progressively into a whisper, and Haruka squints his eyes a little.

When he tilts his head, his bangs sweeping softly to the side, Rin can physically feel his barriers crack. He groans again, slamming a hand against his own face, and drags it slowly through his hair as he talks.

“I thought you were in danger, idiot!” He yells, taking his sweet time to carefully inspect the leftovers on his plate and the wood of the table before making eye contact with Haruka again. “You can’t just leave your door open like that! What if some creep walks in and hurts you!?”

Haruka’s eyes are wide open and staring in evident surprise, so Rin takes a deep breath and looks away. It takes a few tries, but he eventually settles into a more relaxed posture, and decides to focus on staring at his own socks, wiggling his toes inside them.

“It was just you being stupid, that’s why I said ‘forget it’.” Taking a quick sip from his water, Rin shifts again, this time staring at one of Haruka’s bookshelves with little interest, and taps his thumb on the table nervously.

Haruka is silent for what seems like forever before he makes a comment on Rin’s loud reply.

“You were coming over.”

“Hah?” When Rin turns to look back at him, he finds Haruka has finally averted his gaze, and he’s instead staring intensely at the plates, almost as if he were trying to move them with his mind.

“You were coming over. I wasn’t worried.”

“I was almost half an hour late!” Rin yells back, frustration showing on his cheeks as he tries not to think too hard about letting Haruka down with his one-time-only lack of punctuality. Haruka seems oblivious to it, though, as he just focuses on gathering the plates to wash, “what if I hadn’t showed up at all!?”

Haruka doesn’t reply until he’s already standing up, plates in hand, and ready to turn towards the kitchen.

“I knew you would come,” he says matter-of-factly, and Rin can’t do anything but shut up, stare at Haruka’s retreating back, and press his face against the table in frustration.

 

 

Rin still has his cheek against the table when Haruka returns, and he doesn’t move even after Haruka is sitting in front of him again. To say that the entire day had been a complete disaster would be an understatement, but after a decent meal and with a full stomach, Rin can at least be positive that a good night’s sleep is definitely on his way. It’s peaceful and quiet around him, and he can already feel the tiredness catching up with him—he certainly wouldn’t mind sitting there, taking a nap on Haruka’s table while Haruka does… whatever he does when he’s at home.

It’s pretty sad that Rin has absolutely no idea what that might be.

The thought makes him sit upright again, stretch his arms over his head, and crack his joints a little. Haruka is still silent, but Rin catches him shifting into a slightly more upright position as soon as he moves. Given that there’s nothing else in the room to be a distraction, Rin is a little flattered that he has Haruka’s undivided attention.

It  _is_  a little creepy that he’s being stared at without a word, though.

(Is this how the water cooler at the station felt?)

“There’s coffee if you want some.”

Haruka’s words catch him off guard, but Rin is quick to shake his head anyway. He really  _is_  tired, and coffee will only make things worse in the long run.

“Nah, I’m good,” he says, reaching for his uniform and throwing the jacket on in one swift motion. “I think I’ll save it for tomorrow.” Rin gets up on his feet, fixes his clothes a little, and puts his cap on. He mentally goes over the aroma and taste of his now familiar sharpie-decorated Flat White cup, and flashes a grin in Haruka’s direction, “can’t start my morning without it.”

The intense stare that Haruka has been giving him until that moment slowly recedes into something softer, and the way in which his downturned gaze sticks to the table throws Rin off for a second. But he doesn’t exactly have much time to mingle and wonder about it; it’s getting late, and he has to get going if he wants to catch the train and get a well-deserved rest before another long day at work begins.

“Gotta go. Thanks for the meal,” he says, a genuine smile blossoming on his face as soon as Haruka looks up at him again. “It was good. Even if it was fish.”

Haruka frowns a little, and Rin sneaks out to grab his shoes before he has the chance to retort.

 

 

It’s a little strange that Haruka doesn’t immediately follow him to the entrance. By the time Rin is done getting ready to leave, though, he is already standing behind him, still quiet and face as blank as if he were seeing off a stranger, or a business partner, or anything other than a crush, or (potential) boyfriend, or love interest. It unsettles Rin that he hasn’t been able to gather any sort of information on that account, but giving his record for unpleasant situations within the last 24 hours, he doesn’t feel like pushing it right now. Having dinner together is an achievement on its own, and Rin can be satisfied with that for now. He just smiles at Haruka, pointing towards the door with his head.

“Won’t you see me out?” he asks, teasingly, but Haruka’s reply is as blank as his expression.

“It’s open.”

_“What!?”_  Haruka seems impervious to Rin’s shock and frustration, even as he’s this close to pulling all of his hair off in one single yank,  _“Again!?”_

“I never closed it in the first place,” Haruka says, speaking without a single care in the world, and Rin is so absolutely  _done_  with it all that he storms out, turning back at the very last second to give his stupid crush one final warning before leaving him to fend off by himself.

“Stop. Stop doing that.” He says in a hushed whisper, his words rushed and his voice sounding as irritated as his current mood, “I don’t care if I have to wait 3 hours for you to get out of the goddamn tub, but next time I’m here, you’d better keep the door locked, got it!?”

Rin is practically wheezing, but Haruka says nothing. Instead, his gaze drops to Rin’s waist, and before Rin can even do so much as stutter, he points to his holster, a deep frown on his face.

“Don’t bring that here,” he says, quiet but firm, and Rin turns his back to him in frustration.

“Do you  _have_  to rub it in?” He whines, facing Haruka again in a split second, “I was late, okay? I  _know_. I’m sorry.”

Haruka’s brow is still scrunched, the answer clearly not satisfying him in the least, and Rin wonders if he really is that pissed off about his lateness, and if he might have to take an entire day off next time he wants to see his (potential) boyfriend in the (very, very frustrating) making. Haruka’s words are final, though, and even if Rin fully agrees with him, he finds himself whining as if reluctantly agreeing to an order.

“Just don’t bring it here again.”

“Fine, fine! I won’t.” Rin pauses his flailing for a moment to stare straight at Haruka again, making sure his entire body carries the seriousness of the issue across. “Will you keep your door shut?”

Haruka remains quiet for another moment before stubbornly shifting his gaze to the side. “… I’ll think about it.”

Rin takes this as a small victory, fixing his hair again for the hundredth time, and he’s already rehearsing his farewell line in his head when his eyes accidentally catch the sight of a small, rumpled bundle of colorful flowers, hurriedly discarded a little ways to the right of Haruka’s door.

Oh,  _crap_.

The color immediately rushes to his cheeks when Rin realizes just how foolish he must have looked while carrying that, and how mortifying it would be to have to witness Haruka spotting it in his presence. His carefully selected words are replaced by a scrambled and hurried ‘good night’ as he rushes down the stone steps, unable to look Haruka in the eye, and praying to all deities that the flowers will go unnoticed until they wither.

 

* * *

 

As luck may have had it, Haruka has the flowers at the restaurant the next day.

Rin can easily try to pretend that he’s seeing things. That there are probably a thousand other flower shops in town where Haruka could’ve gotten the exact same combination of flowers that were in that bouquet between the previous night and this morning. That it’s just a coincidence, that it just so happens that someone decided to put those flowers on one of the white tables outside the restaurant. That it’s just a coincidence that they’re precisely on the very table Rin himself had sat at not too long ago. He can easily try to ignore it all, and flex his fingers on the steering wheel instead. Coincidence after coincidence. That’s all there is to it.

What he can’t ignore is Haruka stopping by the table on his way to the patrol car, picking up a vibrant red flower, and placing it in the takeout bag so it peeks out of it  _just_  so.

Stretching his arms on the passenger seat beside him, Sousuke snorts.

Rin concludes that it’s no wonder why Haruka likes dolphins so much. He, too, is a complete asshole.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will it be more than 4 parts? I hope not.
> 
> Next time: Rin is _still_ dense and Haru _still_ sucks.
> 
> (ﾉㅎ_ㅎ) ﾉ !!


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